Jean-François Stoycheff was playing injured – but playing well, and he was among the chip leaders and action-agitators all afternoon. He finally ran into a hand he couldn’t overcome, however, and he was eliminated in 3rd place tonight.
There was a little confusion off the top in his final hand. Jean-François meant to (and verbalized) that his preflop raise would be to 1M chips, but Stephane Blouin-Verroeulst misunderstood and said, “call” based on the supposed all-in, and tabled his hand. The mistake was caught quickly and Jean-François never saw the hand, and Stephane was committed to his spoken call – he put in his million chips.
The flop came 
and Jean-François said, paraphrasing, “I didn’t see your cards, but whether I did or not, I’m all in” – Stephane made the call.
Jean-François: 
Stephane: 
The turn was nothing less than the worst-case scenario for Jean-François – 
to give Stephane his gutshot draw. The 
on the river was but a formality.
3rd place: Jean-François Stoycheff, $9,030 plus a MILLIONS STEP 3 satellite seat
